Modelling the HIV-Associated tb epidemic and the impact of interventions aimed at epidemic control

Abstract

In this chapter, we focus on mathematical models of tuberculosis epidemiology (TB) that include interactions with HIV and an explicit representation of transmission. We review the natural history of TB and illustrate how its features are simplified and incorporated in mathematical models. We then review the ways HIV influences the natural history of TB, the interventions that have been considered in models, and the way these individual-level effects are represented in models. We then go on to consider population-level effects, reviewing the TB/HIV modelling literature. We first review studies whose focus was on purely epidemiological modelling, and then studies whose focus was on modelling the impact of interventions. We conclude with a summary of the uses and achievements of TB/HIV modelling and some suggested future directions.